When the world changed, many people chose to evacuate by car, which meant a lot of vehicles were left parked near the dormitories.
After all, no one was stupid. They knew that when it came to escaping, two feet were no match for four wheels.
Students hunted Soul Beasts daily in the area around the dormitories, so the density of stragglers wasn't too high.
Han Ning's teammates were the two male classmates he had hunted with the day before. They had also been his roommates before the world changed.
He had lived in a four-person dorm. Unfortunately, one of his roommates had been killed in a Soul Beast attack when the world changed. Afterward, the three survivors went on to live in separate rooms.
The three of them, along with a larger group, walked to a parking lot below the dormitory.
A dozen or so cars were parked haphazardly inside.
"Tianhe, you drive. Ah Yu and I will protect you."
Han Ning adjusted his protective goggles and spoke to the two men—one tall, one short—beside him.
The taller one was Lin Tianhe, and the one slightly shorter than him was Chen Linyu.
Of the three, only Lin Tianhe had a driver's license.
Before setting out, they had acquired a key with an Audi logo.
Most of the people who had managed to drive their cars here were still alive. The car's owner was an old professor at the academy who hadn't participated in the expedition due to his health. Acting on information from another professor, Han Ning and his friends quickly found the Audi, which had been hastily parked at the edge of the lot.
"Careful."
As they approached the car, Han Ning suddenly pulled back Lin Tianhe, who was about to unlock it. Pointing to the shattered front passenger-side window, he whispered,
"The window's broken. Something probably got inside. Don't rush over."
"Judging by the size of the hole, it might be an Iron-toothed Snake," Lin Tianhe said, having also noticed the anomaly. "Lin Yu, get the fire extinguisher out."
"Okay," Chen Linyu replied, pulling out a small, portable fire extinguisher.
The three of them fanned out and cautiously approached the car. When they were just three steps away, Han Ning rose onto his tiptoes to peer inside.
There, on the back seat, were two coiled, pitch-black snakes. Covered in jet-black scales, their bodies were as thick as an adult's fist and about a meter long.
The two black snakes were tightly entwined. A hazy white mist drifted in and out between their maws, and for the moment, they hadn't noticed the three humans standing quietly outside.
Faint hissing sounds emanated from the car. The scene was both bizarre and terrifying.
"Iron-toothed Snakes aren't venomous, but their teeth can bite through thin iron, and they're fast."
Every piece of knowledge about Soul Beasts had been paid for in blood.
"Tianhe, make some noise and try to lure them out. When they emerge, I'll attack one of them."
"Lin Yu, you'll use the fire extinguisher to disrupt the other one's sight and smell, keep it off of us."
Han Ning and his two classmates stepped back and conferred in hushed tones.
"Got it."
The other two nodded in agreement.
Lin Tianhe scanned the area. Not far away, many others were still trying to find and start vehicles.
He gestured for the other students to stay back.
The cacophony of engines starting up all around them surprisingly failed to alert the two entwined snakes. They remained completely absorbed with each other.
Then, Lin Tianhe picked up a few pebbles from the ground, aimed for the car's rear window, and tossed them.
CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!
The sharp sound of the pebbles and the resulting vibration in the car finally caught the two black snakes' attention.
Startled, they instantly fixed their cold, pale-yellow eyes on Lin Tianhe, their tongues flicking as they let out a sharp HISS.
Clearly enraged at being interrupted, the two Iron-toothed Snakes shattered the rear window with a CRASH and slithered out, one after the other, heading toward Han Ning and his friends.
At that moment, Han Ning had already taken Yin Yi from his bag and was holding it. To the astonishment of his two classmates, he gently rubbed Yin Yi's leaves and whispered, "Silver Thorn!"
Yin Yi's body unfurled, and the thorn just below the flower at its tip began to glow with a verdant light.
WHOOSH!
A streak of green light shot out, striking the upper half of one of the approaching Iron-toothed Snakes with incredible speed and precision.
With a wet THUMP, the upper body of the once-menacing Iron-toothed Snake exploded into a shower of blood and shredded flesh.
"Holy crap... It's that powerful?!" The clean, decisive kill left his two roommates momentarily stunned.
"Quick, Ah Yu! The other snake!" Han Ning's voice was urgent as he snapped the still-dazed Chen Linyu out of his stupor.
Yin Yi needed to pause for at least a second after firing a Silver Thorn, a one-second window that was extremely dangerous.
"Oh, right!" Chen Linyu quickly snapped out of it, raising the fire extinguisher and aiming it at the other Iron-toothed Snake, now less than five meters away. He squeezed the handle.
PFFFFFT—
A huge cloud of white, dry powder erupted from the nozzle.
The Iron-toothed Snake's sight and sense of smell were overwhelmed, and its advance suddenly halted.
Seizing the opportunity, Han Ning quickly had Yin Yi attack the remaining snake.
Yin Yi repeated the process. The thorn on its body lit up, and another gleaming green projectile pierced the second Iron-toothed Snake.
BANG!
As if a small bomb had detonated inside it, the Iron-toothed Snake was instantly blown into bloody chunks.
"A-Amazing... Han Ning, how did your Silver Lotus Wood get so powerful?!"
Only when both snakes lay motionless did Lin Tianhe and Chen Linyu stare, wide-eyed and astonished, at the Yin Yi in Han Ning's arms.
"If you feed it a lot of Soul Beast flesh, it gets stronger," Han Ning explained. "My Silver Lotus Wood mutated after it absorbed nutrients from a bunch of Demon Eye Frogs."
Han Ning wasn't just making things up. Among the survivors, a very small number of students had seen their own Silver Lotus Woods begin to strengthen in different ways, evidently from absorbing nutrients from various Soul Beasts.
"Enough talk. Let's clean up and get to the Ninth Cafeteria."
Han Ning waved his hand dismissively and walked over to the dead Iron-toothed Snakes. He bent down and touched their shattered bodies.
Energy +0.12
Energy +0.1
'Only 0.22 Energy total. Maybe it's because their bodies were so torn apart that the Energy was too dispersed.'
Han Ning thought to himself, then carefully inspected the car's interior one more time. Only after confirming it was empty did he move closer.
Meanwhile, Lin Tianhe and Chen Linyu put on disposable gloves and quickly began gathering the scattered remains of the snakes.
This was all a precious resource that could strengthen their Silver Lotus Woods; it couldn't be wasted.
Han Ning had run an experiment before. Even after he absorbed the Energy from a piece of flesh, Yin Yi could still extract a small amount of nutrients if it was buried in the soil. It was less than half the amount, but it wasn't a total waste.
Since Yin Yi had done most of the work killing the two Iron-toothed Snakes, Han Ning absorbed the Energy without a second thought.
'Distribution based on contribution. Perfectly fair.'
After the brief delay, most of the other students had already driven away from the parking lot. Only a few had encountered Soul Beasts in their vehicles as they had.
Han Ning glanced over, saw that the others weren't in any serious danger, and got into the car with his two roommates.
VRRROOM...
The engine roared to life, and the car sped off, carrying the three of them toward the Ninth Cafeteria.